In a third consecutive day of topsy-turvy trading, natural gas futures ultimately finished firmly in negative territory, as markets fixated more on shifting weather patterns than a bullish storage report and rising U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) volumes.

EIA storage for week ending Jan. 8

The February Nymex gas futures contract settled at $2.666/MMBtu, down 6.1 cents day/day. March fell 5.9 cents to $2.630.

NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. also lost ground, shedding 10.5 cents to $2.740 after losing 8.0 cents the day before amid seasonally mild temperatures.

NatGasWeather said data in both the domestic Global Forecast System (GFS) and the European model had shifted warmer this week and presented “a rather bearish pattern through Jan. 21 with only modest cold shots into the U.S.”

The firm continues to...